St Lawrence Gold | Jared Designs

Art Direction | Branding | Print Design | Digital Assets

St. Lawrence Gold produces 100% pure Canadian maple syrup and artisanal honeys sourced from pristine regions worldwide. Tapped and bottled in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region of Quebec, their Grade A syrups range from delicate First Tapped to bold Late Harvest, catering to both sweet and savory dishes.

ST LAWRENCE GOLD BRANDING UPDATE

The Challenges

Keeping a Friendly, Homey Feel: Updating the brand so it looks sharp without losing its warm, rustic, handmade charm.

Honoring the Original Logo: Freshly redesigning the logo while keeping key elements everyone already recognizes, like the classic bee icon.

Highlighting Canadian Roots: Making sure shoppers immediately spot that the honey is proudly made in Canada when looking at busy store shelves.

The Solutions

Combining the Bee & Maple Leaf: Blended the original bee design straight into a bold maple leaf shape, instantly connecting the honey to its Canadian origin.

Easy-to-Read Arched Text: Kept the friendly, curved style of the original brand name but added clean outlines so it pops off the shelf.

Classic "Pure Canadian" Banner: Added a simple red ribbon design across the bottom to highlight local quality and genuine heritage.

BRAND EXTENSION: the syrup line

Following the successful finalization of the honey branding, these exact same characteristics were seamlessly applied to a new syrup line to establish a cohesive master brand family. To cleverly differentiate the product lines while maintaining visual unity, the central maple leaf icon was replaced with a stylized tree emblem, providing a clear and immediate symbol for the maple syrup side of the business.

Alternative Concepts & Modern Exploration

Beyond the primary design direction, I wanted to provide the client with a broader look at what a modern packaging refresh could look like. Using flat label templates, I developed a series of contemporary layout concepts that leaned into crisp geometric honeycomb patterns, bold color blocking, and sophisticated typography blends. To ensure the client could fully evaluate the branding scale, these explorations also served as a practical scale test. Some versions utilized their classic logo marks within the updated framework, giving the client a clear visual comparison of how different logo sizes and proportions would directly impact their overall shelf presence and layout versatility.

SLG HONEY GIFT SET

The Challenges

Orientation Mechanics: Designing a flat die line template to ensure all text, graphics, and windows assemble perfectly right side up on a 3D box.

Dual Design Directions: Balancing the requested rustic, artisan landscape aesthetic with a sleek, high contrast modern alternative.

Structural Constraints: Fitting a custom, uniquely shaped hexagonal product pamphlet smoothly inside a compact external display box.

Compliance Integration: Incorporating heavy industry mandated packaging text, nutrition facts, and barcodes without cluttering the premium gifting appeal.

The Solutions

3D Layout Mapping: Precision aligned all typography and vector elements across the template folds to guarantee perfect visual continuity upon assembly.

Dual Visual Options: Delivered a natural Landscape Edition celebrating Canadian wilderness origins alongside a Dark Contemporary Edition featuring matte black honeycomb patterns for a boutique shelf presence.

Die Cut Windows: Featured five individual hexagonal front panels to beautifully showcase the unique honey colors while keeping the sample jars securely in place.

Hexagonal Insert Pamphlet: Created a custom geometric fold out insert that mimics a honeycomb structure, neatly guiding consumers through flavor profiles while folding completely flat inside the box.

Art Direction &
International Advertising

The Challenges

Brand Continuity Post Freelance: Transitioning from primary hands on creator to an external consultant while protecting the visual identity during a massive corporate image change.

Mastering Platform Restrictions: Navigating a minefield of conflicting specs, strict image text ratios, character limits, and compliance rules across multiple digital and print advertising platforms.

International Market Standards: Adapting promotional assets for a UK audience, requiring precise alignment with overseas retail expectations and regional consumer advertising standards.

The Solutions

Strategic Art Direction: Maintained an ongoing advisory relationship to oversee the visual shift into their sleek modern look, ensuring new product lines felt unified under the updated master brand.

Cross Platform Asset Management: Developed a flexible design system to rapidly deploy tailored marketing artwork that met the exact technical guidelines of every unique ad platform without losing visual impact.

Targeted UK Campaigns: Successfully produced high performing international advertising artwork that elevated St. Lawrence Gold's retail presence and brand authority across the UK market.